Monthly Archives: August 2012

Thanks to all of you who attended the LCM on 23rd August at Chelmsford. The NECL has decided to continue to submit their games for grading to the ECF. Once this decision was reached it was a question of deciding how to deal with the options of direct membership or game fees.

League fees for next season were set at £1 per player to cover the league costs and a £10 deposit per team. The league intend to use the deposits together with an existing balance as a float to cover any shortfall in time between money needing to be paid to the ECF and money being collected from the clubs. David Millward will send out a separate document covering the wider financial issue.

Clubs will need to decide how to collect the ECF money. The simplest route is for players to join the ECF directly although it can also be done through the NECL. Players can join individually online at www.englishchess.org.uk and also by post (form attached) or phone (01424 775222). Membership can be retrospective but I would advise actively encouraging regular club players to join at the start of the season for easier club administration.

One alternative is for clubs to collect game fees from non-ECF members at each match (£2 per player per match) ready to pass onto the ECF via the NECL when necessary. ECF membership is mandatory for anyone playing more than 6 games (when it becomes cheaper anyway than paying individual game fees).

This season will be a trial (perhaps in more ways than one) for the league and individual clubs and we will revisit all this at the end of the season to see how things have worked out.

Clubs running an internal championship have to make a similar decision on whether they want to submit their games for grading and, if so, whether to make membership of the ECF mandatory for anyone taking part or whether to pay the grading costs by collecting game fees from non-members. If an event is to be ECF graded every game played within the competition has to be submitted. The Daytime League will be graded and Jim House will be contacting these players directly.

Please make sure all clubs submit their league entries by 14th September at the latest. This will allow fixtures to be arranged online at www.necl.org.uk about a week before the fixture meeting on 24th September at Baddow’s venue.

One other change moves the deadline for registering players to 24 hours before a match instead of 5 days. Registration is still via post or email to the League Secretary and not via the website.

Good luck to everybody involved with organising the changes at a club level. Please get in touch if there are any queries or if you need any advice.

Carlsen and Anand share the lead after Tata Steel Masters Round 8 6 time winner Magnus Carlsen and 5 time winner Viswanathan Anand share the lead in the Tata Steel Masters going into the second rest day. Magnus Carlsen scored a regulation win against Richard Rapport where he steadily outplayed his opponent on the white […]

Viswanathan Anand beat Vladimir Kramnik in Round 7 of the Tata Steel Masters to join Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren, Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen in a five way tie on 4.5/7. Kramnik has been playing some rather strange, if not outright bad, chess during this event. Kramnik's aggressive 14.g4?! and 16.h4? should have led to […]

Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen joined Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi in the lead on 4 points after they both won in the sixth round of the Tata Steel Masters. Carlsen won a difficult endgame late on against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Although equal the position was very unbalanced and it seems 44...h5? (44...e3) was the losing […]

Before the first rest day the Tata Steel Masters went "on tour" to the beautiful city of Alkmaar. The city is famous for its cheese and the venue was the Taqa Theater De Vest. Magnus Carlsen ended a run of 21 draws in a row in Classical Chess going back to Round 2 of the […]

Leader Ian Nepomniachtchi earned a comfortable draw with black against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Round 4 of the Tata Steel Masters and kept the lead with 3 points. This allowed Anish Giri and Santosh Gujrathi Vidit to move within half a point in a four way tie for second place with Ding Liren and Viswanathan Anand. […]

Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated a struggling Vladimir Kramnik in the third round of the Tata Steel Masters tournament to lead the tournament alone on 2.5/3. This is also Nepomniachtchi's third classical win in a row against Kramnik. Ding Liren also scored his first win beating Jorden van Foreest and Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat Vladimir Fedoseev. Shankland-Anand, Radjabov-Rapport […]

FIDE is pleased to announce the 2019 Grand Prix Series, the qualifier for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. It will be held in cooperation with World Chess in a new format aimed at improving its appeal for spectators and players alike. Each of the top 20 players qualified by rating will take part in 3 out […]

Tournaments • Smooth organization of major FIDE events, including both World Classical Championships (London and Khanty-Mansiysk) • Successful relocation and organization of King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2018 in a close partnership with the Saudi Chess Federation and the Russian Chess Federation. New standard of organization and specially devised programs attracted thousands […]

1. As clearly stated in Article 1 of FIDE's statutes, FIDE rejects discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social or religious reasons or on account of gender. According to the same statutory provision, FIDE events (competitions, congresses, meetings) may be hosted only by Federations where free access is generally assured to representatives of all Federations. […]

FIDE informs about additional qualification path to the Candidates 2020 - FIDE Grand Swiss. Consequently, FIDE removes one qualification spot from the rating quota and passes it to Grand Swiss qualifier based on the understanding with World Chess. The bids for the event are to be sent before February 9, 2019 to office@fide.com. Rules for […]

FIDE is pleased to announce that an official bank account with Caixa Bank, one of the largest banks in Spain, has been opened. FIDE is extending its gratitude to Mr. Jose Claudio Vinas Racionero, President of the Catalonia Chess Federation for his invaluable assistance in this matter.

The King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held in St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 25-31. Daniil Dubov and Ju Wenjun are the World Rapid Chess Champions. Magnus Carlsen and Kateryna Lagno are the World Blitz Champions. Please view the final standings and complete prize fund allocations: PDF | Excel